The most important partner for Russell Wilson to grow with in Seahawks training camp doesn’t wear a helmet

Since he and the Seattle Seahawks last played, Russell Wilson has been going everywhere, doing everything.

He’s played baseball for the Yankees at spring training in Florida. He’s been to China, South Africa and England. He’s been on red carpets at awards shows in Los Angeles. He’s been hosting television shows. He’s piloting helicopters over potential new homes for a Major League Baseball team in Portland in which he’s invested.

But this week when training camp begins, the Seahawks quarterback will be doing something new. For the first time since his rookie camp six years ago, it won’t be his same old, comfortable summer.

Wilson is going back to the fundamentals of his position. He will be told to focus on his footwork, hounded about hand-offs, picked on about his passing.

He will be getting Brian Schottenheimer.

For these next six weeks until the games get real, the Seahawks’ most valuable asset is going to be going to school with a new, at times fiery, in-his-face taskmaster. The former play caller for the Rams and Jets is Seattle’s new offensive coordinator—and Wilson’s new driving force.

And we do mean driving.

“I love coaching the quarterback position. I’ve always done it that way. It’s just something that’s my passion,” Schottenheimer said. “I wasn’t a very good quarterback, so I’ve learned that I’m better coaching them and showing them the way to do things rather than doing it.

“I’ve admired Russell, his play-making ability ... the ability to throw the football and create plays when things break down. That’s hard to teach. It’s hard to teach a guy to run around and make people miss and find an open guy in the end zone. That was something that was really exciting for me, is to get here and to work with a guy like that, that has done so well thus far.

“Just try to coach him up on some new fundamentals and techniques and see what he likes.”

Before we get more into Schottenheimer, Wilson wants you to know this about Darrell Bevell. Bevell is the coordinator and play caller coach Pete Carroll fired after seven years in Seattle, to create this chance for Schottenheimer to school Wilson.

The quarterback’s unsolicited endorsement when asked about Schottenheimer shows his old bonds break hard, and that his new one will need all of training camp to form.

“Schotty’s been great. (But) first of all, I’ve got to pay my respects to Coach Bevell,” Wilson said of the only play caller he’s had in the NFL until now.

Bevell guided Wilson and the Seahawks’ offense to five consecutive playoffs, two Super Bowls and Seattle’s only NFL title four years ago.

“Obviously, we won a Super Bowl. Went to two. Won multiple playoff games. Won a lot of games,” Wilson said. “He’s a great coach. He helped me, a lot, tremendously.

“The unfortunate part about the NFL is there always seems to be change, you know. It’s just part of the process, I guess.

“You want to continue to grow. Going into year seven, I’ve been fortunate to have done a lot of cool things in six years. But there’s a lot more to do. I’m excited about that. I love the mental challenge of growing.”

Yes, these overhauled Seahawks have crucial relationships to solidify during training camp and through the four preseason games in August. That is, if they want to get back to the playoffs in January,

Earl Thomas remains estranged from the team. A report Tuesday out his native Texas said he’s “done” with Seattle and plans to sell his suburban home here—unless, of course, he gets that new, top-level contract beyond 2018 he’s wanted from the only NFL team he’s known.

So nothing’s changed there. The three-time All-Pro safety is likely to officially begin his holdout at a potential cost of $40,000 per day in fines on Wednesday when he doesn’t report to team headquarters in Renton for camp with the rest of the Seahawks.

Veteran Pro Bowl linebackers Bobby Wagner and K.J. Wright are loving the re-bonding they will be doing in camp with Ken Norton Jr. The coach returned from three seasons away as the Oakland Raiders’ coordinator to return to Seattle as its new defensive coordinator. The Seahawks’ linebackers coach from 2010-14 is replacing fired Kris Richard.

But the biggest bond that training camp will build, the link that may prove to be the most important to the coming Seahawks season and beyond, is between Wilson and Schottenheimer.

Coach Pete Carroll decided in January, soon after Seattle’s first non-playoff season in six years, to fire Bevell. Justifiably after years of subpar blocking up front, Bevell’s game planning and calling had become dependent on Wilson’s improvisational play making and scramble runs for big plays away from failed pass protection. That is how Wilson led the team in rushing last season.

With Bevell calling plays, Wilson also led the NFL with 34 touchdown passes in 2017. That tied Wilson’s franchise record he set in 2015. He’s thrown for at least 3,983 yards in each of the last three seasons. Those are the top three passing seasons in Seahawks history.

But Carroll wants to return to the power rushing offenses of 2012-15, the ones that controlled games, sealed wins and clinched playoff berths. That is, an offense with running backs as the leading rushers, not Wilson. So Carroll hired Schottenheimer, the 44-year-old former college QB at Kansas and Florida and son of former long-time NFL head coach Marty Schottenheimer. Brian Schottenheimer was Indianapolis’ quarterbacks coach the past two seasons.

Wilson’s always had Bevell as his play caller and coordinator, Carl Smith as his quarterbacks coach and Tom Cable, the offensive line coach Carroll also fired in January’s staff purge, as the running-game coordinator. It was a triumvirate that Wilson had to navigate, balance, then learn and grow.

No more. It’s one man. Though former wide receivers coach Dave Canales has the title of new QBs coach, Schottenheimer is the actual quarterbacks coach in the meeting rooms and on the field, as well as the coach who will call all plays, runs and passes. Solari will be the line coach, not a run-game coordinator.

And Schottenheimer does more than teach. He yells. He jumps up and down. He windmills his arms. He grabs receivers and pulls them two feet over into a slot position that is just right.

He’s conspicuous in a scruffy beard, Seahawks visor pulled low over his brow and play cards in both his hand and his waistband. He goes down the rows of stretching Seahawks and shakes the hands or slaps the backs of each one of four dozen offensive players on the 90-man preseason roster.

The only way the couple thousand of fans that will be attending the Seahawks’ practices at training camp each day won’t notice Schottenheimer is if they have their eyes—and ears—closed.

When asked to describe his coaching philosophy, Schottenheimer used one word.

“Energetic,” he said.

“I love to be out there with the guys. I love to jump in and be involved. I’m a fundamentals coach. I believe that fundamentals make a difference. I think when you’re going into a match-up and it’s the third quarter or fourth quarter and you’ve got two evenly matched going up against one another the one with the better, or more solid, foundation of fundamentals will ultimately win more share of battles than his opponent.

“Those are probably two big things for me. I see myself as a teacher. I love trying to reach different people in the room and say things in a different way.”

Schottenheimer has been learning as well as teaching Wilson the last six months. He’s had to learn the Seahawks’ terminology for plays, formations and pass protections, while also adding his own.

“If you put a number on it, I’d say it’s probably 70 percent of what they’ve done here and then maybe 30 percent of ideas from Mike (Solari) and myself and some of the new guys.

“It’d be crazy to ask some of the guys to learn a completely new system. I’ve been working extremely hard trying to get up to speed with the way they’ve done things. They’ve had so much success here that was easy for me to do. I’m excited about some of the things that we’ve added both in the run and pass game. I think that’ll be something that is noticeably different. It’s a comprehensive approach.”

Wilson has already noticed. This training camp will be a continuation of his new schooling.

“There’s definitely added stuff, for sure,” Wilson said. “We’ve always had a lot of information. It’s even more.

“But that’s OK. I’m ready for more and more, and to see how far we can take it. I think we are going to have a great offense, I really do.

“It’s been great. It’s time to keep moving on and see how far we can take it.”

This story was originally published July 24, 2018 at 4:07 PM.